2011 looks to be a good year for Iowa pork producers

WASHINGTON – It's turning out to be a very good year for Iowa's pork producers.

Prices are high and exports up. The U.S. economy is improving and Americans are eating more pork.

Earlier this month, Doug Wolf, president of the National Pork Producers Council, gave an upbeat report on his industry to a House Agriculture Committee panel, saying 2011 is expected to be a “successful year for U.S. hog producers.”

But there's a cloud on the horizon: Concern there won't be enough corn this year to feed the nation's hogs.

The prospect of a shortage is creating tension between two of Iowa's agriculture giants.

The state produces more corn than any other state – and most other countries. Iowa is also the nation's top pork producer, adding $5 billion each year to the state's economy, the industry says.

While pork producers have for years grumbled about the rising cost of feed corn, they now worry more about its availability.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently predicted the surplus of corn at the end of the crop marketing year, August 31, will be one of the lowest ever.

And pork producers think a proposed move to increase the ethanol blend in gasoline to 15 percent, a mix that's known as E15, will increase scarcity.

“The U.S. pork industry strongly believes the country needs a strong renewable energy sector. However it cannot come at the expense of the U.S. livestock industry,” Wolf told House Agriculture Committee members.

Recent flooding of the Mississippi River has submerged thousands of acres of farmland. That also leads pork producers to think there won't be enough corn for their animals this year.

“We have money this year to pay for higher prices for corn, but we can't do anything if there's no corn to be had,” said David Warner, spokesman for the National Pork Producer's Council.

While corn prices have risen about 20 percent in the past year, pork price have climbed even higher.

Dan Weber keeps 6,000 hogs in feed on a family farm 20 miles south of Waterloo. Like many Iowa pork producers, he grows his own corn and soybeans. That keeps him from worrying too much about what he'll feed his pigs.

“But I know the biggest concern other pork producers are having is ‘are we going to have enough corn?'” Weber said.

The nation's hog farmers were early skeptics of the rise of the ethanol industry. The pork industry now wants to end the ethanol tax credit and other incentives that will end in December if not renewed.

“I would have no problem with having them expire, then we'd compete on more of a level playing field,” Weber said.

And Weber said E15 will unfairly increase competition for corn.

Ethanol production is expected to consume nearly 40 percent of the nation's corn crop this year.

But pork farmers are another huge customer for Iowa's corn growers. Mindy Larsen Poldberg, a lobbyist with the Iowa Corn Growers Association, said there will be enough corn for everyone – if weather conditions permit.

“There seems to be worries every year (about supply) and this year is no different,” she said. “But we know in Iowa that we're having a good growing year.”

She also said pork producers could feed their animals alternatives to corn – including barley, wheat and dry distiller's grain, a byproduct of turning corn into ethanol.

But pork producers say corn is the best thing to feed a hog, making it grow fast and taste good.

“We have to watch the quality of our pork very carefully,” he said. “There's a lot of competition around the world.”

Bob Hemesath, a pork famer near Decorah, raises about 15,000 hogs a year. He also grows corn on 1,750 acres. He's not concerned about scarcity and said pork producers who don't grow feed grains should have planned for this year by ordering future deliveries of corn.

“It's a risk management thing. You have to make arrangements,” Hemesath said.

He also said both pork producers and corn growers should celebrate the times – especially farmers like him that sell both pork and corn.

“Right now, the hog market is good and the corn market is good,” Hemesath said.

By Ana Radelat, Capitol News Connection